Interview with Professor Dr Hans-Gert Pöttering, former President of the European Parliament, Berlin The European: Professor Pöttering, what was your first thought when you heard US President Joe Biden, on the occasion of his visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels some months ago, say that “America is back again”? Hans-Gert Pöttering: We all were happy to hear…
In Brussels, the old Greek saying that progress is only stimulated by crises carries weight. The fact that Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, is taking her leave of the circle of EU leaders after 16 years has been taken with equanimity in Brussels, in the knowledge that her departure will not provoke an internal crisis…
In a few decades time, will historians judge that the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was wise? Will the uncoordinated withdrawal of the NATO allies enable the USA to maintain its position as the world’s No1 power by shifting its geostrategic focus from the sprawling, continental and militarily ungovernable Middle East to the Indo-Pacific region?…